What is Intuitive Eating?

"Intuitive Eating" is simply the innate knowing of what, when and how much to eat for one's individual nutritional needs. We are all born with this knowledge. Several nutrition studies have demonstrated that when children are allowed to choose their food, they will choose a "balanced diet" (nutritionally adequate for growth and health)-over time-not necessarily in every meal or even a day, but averaged out over several days. Children instinctively self-regulate their food intake. Ideally, all individuals can regulate their eating to attain a "balanced diet" for one's own unique needs.

Why learn "Intuitive Eating"?

Intuitive Eating helps people restore their natural ability to choose the "right" foods at the "right" times in the "right" amounts, for them. Unfortunately, most of us did not grow up in an environment that supported intuitive eating beyond infancy, so it is understandable why so many of us have forgotten, and believe in the illusion that our bodies' signals should be ignored and our eating "controlled". Many of us have had a long history of dieting and body hatred. Nothing seems to work for very long in changing our eating or attaining the body that we want.

The popular approach for "controlling weight" is to focus on restricting our food, weighing ourselves and criticizing our bodies. It is nearly impossible (and unimaginable) for most people to sustain this approach as a life-long solution, and inevitably 98% of dieters gain back the weight that they may have lost, plus some. The more people restrict foods, the heavier they become. Judging ourselves and relying on outside information to tell us what we "should" or "shouldn't" eat, defeats our intuition to the point that we no longer hear it, until one day we might wake up and find that our bodies are resounding with extra weight or health problems.

Most people report great success with intuitive eating and the innovative "Energetics of Eating" approach, and find that they feel free around food, eat what they want without deprivation, eat consciously and "healthfully" by listening to and acting on their body's needs for certain foods and appropriate amounts, attain and maintain their "natural" weight, and feel vital, finding joy and acceptance in their body. And most of all, people report feeling a sense of peace and renewal--an enormous amount of mental, physical and psychic energy can be freed from food and weight obsession.

How can I tell if I am experiencing physical or symbolic hunger?

Notice when you want to eat: are you feeling sensations in your stomach of hunger, or perhaps it is higher up in the body-the chest (anxiety) or in the mouth (taste and feel of food)? To better discern physical hunger, many people find it helpful to use a rating scale of 0-10 (where 0 is empty stomach-no food, intense physical hunger; where 5 is neutral; and where 10 is totally stuffed-couldn't possibly eat another bite). Below a 5 is physical hunger. Above a 5 is symbolic hunger and represents a level of fullness. Children and other attuned intuitive eaters, tend to eat at a 3 - 4.5, and stop at a 5 - 6. They typically need to eat more frequently, because they eat only the amount that they are hungry for in that moment.

A common trap many unconscious eaters find themselves in, is avoiding eating until their hunger reaches below a 2 and then eating to above 8. Starve and stuff. This is not the best way to take care of ourselves or to meet our nutritional needs. When hunger gets too intense, the body regresses to survival. We lose our nutritional intuition because at this point the body is focused on only calories. Noticing the more subtle cues of physical hunger, around 3 - 4, gives us the best opportunity of meeting our nutritional needs. Eating at this time and stopping when just satisfied (5.5-6.5), not full or stuffed, can eliminate overeating.

back to top

How will I know if I am making the "right" food choices?

Most of us can relate to what it feels like after we eat too much or we eat something that doesn't sit well with us. How would your food choices be different if you were able to get that sensation before you ate?

The second step involves checking in with your body to guide you to what and how much to eat. After attuning to your hunger level, ask yourself, "If I could have anything at all to eat right now, what would it be?" Simply imagine the food in a certain amount that you want to eat, as if you have already eaten it. How does that food in that amount, FEEL in your body? Just right? Too much? Not enough? The goal is to have the food and amount feel perfect in the body: not too full, but feeling energized and nourished. This technique is called "internal portion control". By accessing the benefits (or realizing the consequences) of your food choices, you can eliminate overeating by feeling the sensations beforehand. All you have to do is listen and trust the information.

back to top

How does intuitive eating help me when I am not physically hungry, but I want to eat?

Every time you experience symbolic hunger, you have an opportunity to decode your food cravings, find their meaning, and discover what truly nourishes you. If while learning this process, you need to eat even though you are not hungry, following the above techniques will help you to eat less and enjoy it more. In the personal consultations, great insights are usually realized, which inspires a positive attitude toward food cravings as a vehicle for lasting change and begins the process of eliminating compulsive behaviors and overeating.

Are their other techniques that I can do to heighten my intuitive abilities?

One very simple way to achieve this is to eat with your non-dominant hand. This technique not only slows you down, it inherently puts you more in touch with your intuition by making more of a "right-brain" connection-the creative, intuitive, feeling, connection to the body. Eating with the non-dominant hand is a way of practicing "mindful eating", keeping you in present time, more intuitive, and helps you to eat just the right amount of food with reverence, enjoyment and relaxation.

What can I expect during a personal consultation?

An Energetics of Eating session is personalized, including guided imagery and myriad of methods to heighten your intuitive abilities that can dramatically improve not only your eating and body image, but also can be extrapolated into other areas of your life. Learning intuitive eating is a process of self-discovery--your physical hunger and nutritional cravings; the source of your symbolic hunger and cravings and how to nourish those aspects of yourself without using food; trusting and accepting your body for all that it does for you, and putting your focus on who you want to be, what you want to do and have in your life--this takes the place of the eating and weight obsession.

FREE MONTHLY E-MAGAZINE